The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released new data showing that the Federal Government spent N1.43tn more money than it earned in the first three months of 2023.
This means that the government’s expenses were 9.6% higher than in the last quarter of 2022, as per the CBN’s economic report for the third quarter of 2023, released on Friday.
According to the report, “In the first quarter of 2023, the Federal Government faced a deficit of N1.43tn. This is 9.6% higher than the previous quarter but 22.1% below the target.”
The report attributed the deficit to a drop in revenue from oil, which led to a 10.7% decrease in the money the Federal Government earned compared to the last quarter of 2022. It also fell short by 46.1% of the target set for the quarter.
In an earlier report by GOOD EVENING NIGERIA, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, revealed that although oil production in Nigeria has recently increased to 1.6 million barrels per day
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But there is also notable decrease in petrol consumption, attributing it to a 30 percent reduction following the removal of the subsidy by President Bola Tinubu.
Furthermore, FGN’s aggregate expenditure also declined by 1.3 and 36.0 per cent, relative to the preceding quarter and the quarterly target, respectively.
It said, “Thus, the FGN overall deficit widened relative to 2022, Q4, but narrowed by 22.1 per cent when compared with the proportionate budget. Consolidated public debt, as at end-December 2022, stood at N46.25tn (or 22.8 per cent of GDP).
At N3.48tn, the CBN report said, gross federation revenue fell below the levels in 2022, Q4 and the budget benchmark by 0.4 and 26.6 per cent, respectively.
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Non-oil revenue continued to dominate government revenue, accounting for 61.4 per cent, while oil receipts accounted for 38.6 per cent.
Oil revenue, at N1.34tn, declined by 3.0 and 43.5 per cent, relative to 2022, Q4 and quarterly target. The performance was indicative of revenue shortfalls from petroleum profit tax and royalties, following lower domestic crude production.
“Conversely, non-oil receipts, at N2.14n, improved against the preceding quarter by 1.2 per cent, but was 9.6 per cent below the quarterly target of N2.37tn,” the report said.